Samuel Lau Takes Over at Hong Kong Disneyland

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has appointed Samuel Lau as managing director of its Hong Kong Disneyland Resort theme park. He replaces Andrew Kam, who after eight years in the post, resigned for “personal reasons.”

The park recently announced its first losses in several years as visitor numbers slowed. This year it faces potential competition from the larger Shanghai Disneyland, which is set to open in mid-June.

Lau, an MIT graduate, had 20 years of public service jobs in the U.S. before joining Walt Disney World Resort in 2010.

“With Mr. Lau’s rich experience in theme park operations and infrastructure development both in Hong Kong and in the United States, we are confident that Mr. Lau will be able to lead the team in HKDL in sailing through this dynamic and challenging environment,” said a spokesman for the Hong Kong government, which is a co-owner of the park.

“Mr. Kam led the HKDL team in accomplishing a series of major expansion works and drove the performance of the park to new records. We wish him every success in his future endeavours,” Hong Kong’s financial secretary Tsang said.

The Hong Kong park is expected to add new features including the “Star Wars” special program this summer, the launch of the Iron Man Experience attraction in late 2016 and Disney Explorers Lodge in 2017.